


Castling Shepard

by BeanBunny



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 20:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeanBunny/pseuds/BeanBunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shepard has to take shore leave for her own mental health. She finds that she has a lot to learn from a new unlikely friend. Written for the Fall 2013 Mass Effect Big Bang. Art by calypsotea. (A big thanks, too, to calypsotea for naming my work!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The mission was over, and all Shepard had to do was wait for Cortez to bring the shuttle around and land it. It should have been pretty easy.

Much easier than the mission she had just completed, anyway. The air around her was still thick, heavy and hot with all the dust they had kicked up -- both her team's, and the reaper that had been active.

She could still hear the reaper's squeal ringing through her head. At the time, she told herself she wasn't allowed to care about the giant world-destroying behemoth, she had work to do. But she was supposed to be still now, and wait, and the only thing she knew to do while being still was hear that roar, over and over.

She wanted it out of her head.

Why the hell was the air so thick?

"Shepard?"

She shook herself out of her own head and looked around. Garrus was watching her. Why would he be watching her?

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, thinking that she actually was.

"You look like you're thinking hard about something."

"No, I'm ... I'm fine." The reaper screamed in her head again. She tried to remind herself that the reaper was totally gone now, it wouldn't be screaming again any time soon. So why wouldn't it hush?

It was thanks to her, right? She had lead the mission, she had hurried the civilians to safety, and she had painted the target that lead to the final blow. She was supposed to feel proud, right? She was having a hard time with that. Even when everyone had come out of hiding and thanked her, and shook her hand, the only thing she could do was nod and fake a smile.

_Scrreeeeee_

Why was the air so damn hot?

Now there was one last reaper in the galaxy, but did it matter? There were probably hundreds more. Maybe thousands. She'd read reports, long lists of text on her datapad, but lately the words stopped making sense. They started running together, blurred by late hours and sleep deprived eyes. Sleep stopped coming a while ago.

She couldn't get over the air. It was really starting to bug her, how heavy it was.

It wasn't easy to breathe in. She felt like she was sucking pretty hard to get anything at all into her lungs. Something didn't feel quite right.

Suddenly, she noticed it was extra hard to breathe. Her chest was heaving. There wasn't enough air, no matter how big she was breathing. Her eyes darted, was it obvious she was having trouble? She didn't want anyone to see.

Standing up felt hard, heavy, and then impossible. She dropped to the ground. Her former worries about being conspicuous were gone, she just wanted _air_ , easy light air without heat or reaper dust or 

_screeeeeeeee_

Where was Cortez? Why wasn't he here already?

Someone turned around, she thought maybe Liara, and she heard a few "Shepard?"s, and maybe a "Hey, are you okay?" Just as everything went black, the last thing she saw was an omnitool light up: "Cortez, you need to get here now, the commander needs -- "

 

Shepard woke up on the table of the sick bay.

At first she was confused, because the last thing she remembered didn't have anything to do with sick bay. Then, she felt panic tingle into her chest: why sick bay? Was she hurt? She started to sit up, but her head wouldn't cooperate. It was pounding.

Chawkwas' voice came at her from the left. "Are you up, can you hear me?"

"I ... yeah, of course I can." It was a natural reaction for her. She was used to pretending she was totally fine. She was waking up in sick bay, and yet she was trying to convince her own doctor that nothing happened.

In her haze, she thought back to Tuchanka, where she was running under dust and sweat, and that sound, that sound, the _screeeeeee –_

"Shepard!"

"... huh?"

"Are you hearing what I'm saying? You passed out!"

"... I did?"

"Look at me, Shepard," Chawkwas went on, deadly serious. "You aren't healthy. Your blood pressure is high, you're not sleeping, you're not eating. Do you know how much weight you've lost?"

"I hadn't thought -- "

"It's the war, I know. It's stressing us all out. But you're sick."

Shepard thought for a moment. She didn't feel sick, but then again, "sick" to her meant "runny nose and throwing up."

But then, it'd been a while since she felt totally well.

"I've contacted Hackett," said Chawkwas. "This passing out business is the last straw. You're going to be put on two weeks mandatory psych leave."

Those words burned her for a moment. She felt her stomach tense. "I ... what? We can't do that. We can't. The war -- "

"The war needs you healthy," Chawkwas continued. "The galaxy needs you healthy. I could probably keep going, but you surely get the idea by now. You're not going on like this. What if you lose consciousness _during_ a mission next time?"

Her eyes widened as she thought back to the reaper scream.

Chawkwas turned and walked away. "You don't want to, I know, but you're going to."

 

She sat in the main battery, head in her hands.

"I don't want to, Garrus."

"It's just two weeks."

She picked her head up to look at him, but he kept typing at his console. "I don't want to. Who's side are you on?"

He took a moment, then stopped typing and sat down beside her. "I'm on your side," he said, "which is why I picked you up and carried you when you passed out. Do you have any idea how scared I was? I can't watch you go down again."

She didn't know what to say.

"I mean, I already lost you once."

Now she REALLY didn't know what to say.

"If you want me to be honest, I don't think two weeks is enough. It seems like that's all the Alliance has to give you, though." He hugged her to him. She took it in, the warmth, the slightly woody yet definitely alien smell.

"Please get better," he finally said. "I need you better soon."

"I know, I know, the whole galaxy -- "

"Nobody said anything about the galaxy. I said _I_ need you better."

He kissed her, and she took it in as much as she could, since she knew this would be the last time she'd have a moment with him like this.


	2. Chapter 2

The shuttle doors opened, and Shepard walked onto the Citadel landing dock, holding her duffel bag. She did not expect to run smack into Kelly.

"Shepard! Shepard! Hi!" Kelly was nearly bouncing.

"Hey, Kelly ... I didn't know I'd find you here."

"Isn't it great? The Alliance asked me to work with you while you're on your leave!"

Shepard narrowed her eyes. "Look, I don't think I need a doctor. I'm sure I'll be just fine after my leave, okay?"

"Shepard, the Alliance is going to take top care of you. Besides, you're obviously having stress problems, right? That's a psychological problem. That's my department."

Shepard stared. Kelly took Shepard by the arm and walked her down the platform. "Come on. They assigned me to you because we already knew each other. If nothing else, think of it as catching up with an old friend, okay?"

"... okay ... " Shepard wasn't thrilled about the arrangement. She didn't really want to talk. Still, it didn't feel like Kelly would take 'no' for an answer.

"Have you seen your new room yet?"

"I just know it's at the Spectre offices."

Kelly hugged Shepard's arm. "Come on, follow me then!"

 

The place was nice, Shepard couldn't deny that.

It was one bedroom, one bath with a small kitchenette -- about the size of a very nice hotel room or a small apartment. She sat her duffel bag down on the bed.

"Do you like?" asked Kelly. 

"I do, actually. I really like the big picture window." She turned to it. Shepard was so used to being on a ship that she forgot what it was like to live in sunlight, even the artificial light of the Citadel.

"I'll let you get settled in," said Kelly. "We'll start all the hard work tomorrow, but until then, feel free to unwind a bit. You know, with a hobby or whatever."

As Kelly hopped out of the room, Shepard thought about what she said -- did she have hobbies? Other than punching husks in the face, that is, but there'd be none of that for a long time.

Other then that, she couldn't think of any hobbies she had.

She saw a TV directly in front of the (surprisingly large) bed. She never had time to watch TV, she was pretty sure they didn't get a signal on the Normandy. _Maybe that's my hobby,_ she thought as she turned it on.

The TV lit up and showed an asari in front of a screen, recounting the day's events. Crime on the Citadel was down 4%, the council would be meeting on Monday, and tomorrow was going to be sunny. Of course it was going to be sunny; when you simulated your own weather, why would you simulate a storm? Shepard changed the channel. It was some show about young pregnant asari. Flipping another channel got her to a mindless children's cartoon. She turned the TV off and flopped backwards on the bed. _Obviously,_ she thought to herself, _I am not a TV person._

She stared at the ceiling. The truth was that she hadn't had a moment to herself in years, and now that she actually had one, she had no idea what to do with it.

Briefly, she thought about calling back to the Normandy and asking what Tali or Liara did in their free time. Or maybe Garrus. Holy crap, why did she not know what Garrus did in his free time? That was the sort of thing someone should know about their better half.

But then she remembered Hackett's directions: no calls to the Normandy. She sighed heavily.

That children's cartoon wasn't sounding so bad.

She turned over on her side toward the large picture window and enjoyed the afternoon sunlight for a moment. It was a treat, she never got anything like sunshine or an outdoor view on a spaceship. Her mind found a moment of quiet, causing her to begin to notice the details outside. There was a sidewalk down below, and a few open air vendors on the edge of a large park.

She sat up on the bed for a moment. Did that park have a running trail?

Running! She liked running. The other Normandy inhabitants would sometimes make fun of her -- "Your PT test isn't for a long time, what are you training for?" -- but who cared? They weren't there. There wasn't anything else to do. She could go running. It was perfect!

She dug into her duffel bag for something more runner like, and produced an old tee shirt, some sneakers, and some nylon shorts. Not elegant, but no one was around to look, right? No one but strangers. As she slid her sneakers on, she felt a smile creep on her face.

 

It was a nice day out. Of course, it was always a nice day on the Citadel, with the simulated weather. Shepard shook her head, she knew what she was doing -- she was trying to distract herself, to stall.

She liked running just fine, she was just a little scared was all. She wasn't sure why. How long had it been, anyway?

She stood in the middle of the park that she had found from the window of her room. It looked much bigger now that she was in it. She told herself that it was fine -- more room to run, right? The grass was springy and more green than she remembered the grass on Earth being. She took a deep breath of clean air, bounced a few times to feel her feet under her, then took off running, the grass propelling her forward.

She'd forgotten what it was like to feel her hair flip behind her and feel the breeze in her face. It wasn't bad. Much nicer than anything she felt on the Normandy.

No. She was going to do what she could to keep her mind off the Normandy. That was the point of this shore leave, right? She wasn't going to think about how dark or closed off the Normandy was. Or how close everyone had to be together, in the mess hall, sharing a meal and eating. She wondered for a moment if they were eating lunch together right about now, telling stories --

\-- NO, she wasn't allowed to think about them! She was supposed to be away from them! Right?

_Just keep running … ___

__She loved it instantly. She'd forgotten how addicted she was to just plain moving -- the feeling of letting her muscles take her somewhere. She loved the feel of the grass beneath her feet, the sun across her nose. Her own self-made breeze kept her cool as she ran. Her lungs began to draw in breath more sharply, filling with a cold feeling._ _

__It was exhilarating._ _

__Kelly could shove knitting up her ass, this was perfect._ _

__She had a moment where she remembered trying to teach Liara to run. This was back during the days of the SR-1, of course, when Liara hadn't quite had the PT that the rest of the crew had. Shepard took her out one shore leave to this very park on the Citadel. Liara made it a few yards before she needed to stop, of course, and Shepard waited as patiently as she could while Liara stood gasping with her hands on her knees._ _

__What was Liara doing right now, she wondered?_ _

___No, none of that!_ Shepard shook her head and ran forward. She tried to empty her head. She tried to concentrate on the sound of her feet hitting the grass._ _

__It didn't help, though, and she found herself mentally wandering back to the Normandy, to Liara, and Tali, and Gar --_ _

__Suddenly, she felt her foot tangle with something. She lost control, tipped over, and hit the ground._ _

__She laid in the grass for a moment. She'd landed on her side and hit her arm, of course. Of _course._ There she was, savior of the galaxy, defender of the Citadel, tripped over in a park and laying in the grass. She knew both her arm and her foot would be sore in the morning, but in that moment, she was sure she had hurt her pride the most._ _

__"Hello?"_ _

__Someone else was there?_ _

__"Hey, I saw you trip. Are you okay?"_ _

__She opened her eyes as she rolled over onto her side. An older man was looking down at her. He hadn't lost his hair yet, just cut it into a short gray cut and kept it under a newsboy hat. He wore the same brown soft shell coat that they seemed to issue to every man over 50, even if it wasn't cool out._ _

__"I'll be fine," she said, and sat up._ _

__"You sure? You took a pretty hard spill."_ _

__He extended his hand toward her, and she looked up at him, not totally sure what to do next. She wasn't sure if she wanted a random stranger's kindness at the moment. She was having fun wallowing, after all._ _

__"Oh come on," he said. "You aren't that prideful, are you?"_ _

__She looked away, and then looked back and took his hand. She hoisted her up._ _

__"My name's Marty," he said. "What's yours?"_ _

__She paused for a moment. If she gave him her name, he'd instantly know who she was, that she was THAT Shepard. He'd start asking questions, and telling her about his sister that was fighting on some planet she'd never heard of, and at that moment, she couldn't take another bare mention of the war._ _

__So she lied. "I'm Molly," she said. It was the first name that came to mind. "Molly She ... Sherrow." She gave Marty's hand a firm shake, and he smiled back._ _

__"Well then, Molly! Are you feeling alright?"_ _

__"I am, actually, thanks." She dropped her hand, then pointed over her shoulder. "If you don't mind, I'll just get back to running -- "_ _

__"You sure you don't want a break? I can always use a chess partner." He gestured behind him to a small stone chess table placed neatly in front of a hedge and between two stone stools._ _

__"I have no idea how to play chess," she said._ _

__"Don't be silly, everyone knows how to play chess." Shepard shook her head, so he went on. "Checkers, then? Do you play checkers?"_ _

__When she looked confused, he patted her on the back. "Come sit with me, then," he said. "You need a break and I need a partner."_ _

__She thought it over for a second -- she had no interest in games, and all of the interest in the world in running, but something about Marty seemed so friendly. She was intrigued._ _

__Well, she thought, it's not like I have anything else to do today._ _

__"You got me," she said. "I'll play with you, but you have to teach me."_ _

__"No worries, there isn't a better teacher in the galaxy!"_ _

__Shepard spent the rest of the afternoon learning what the different pieces were and what they did. She didn't understand why she needed a piece that moved in an L, and she didn't see the need in a piece that only could move diagonally, but if those were the rules, those were the rules._ _

__Each turn was a challenge, since she was having trouble remembering how each piece moved. She must've taken too long, because Marty whispered to her, "Molly?"_ _

__Then again. "Molly?"_ _

__"Hey, Molly!"_ _

__Who the hell was --_ _

__Oh, right, she was Molly. "Hmm? Yes?" She pretended to start, just to keep up the charade._ _

__"Are you having a hard time with it?"_ _

__"What? No, I can handle it," she lied. Which way did the queen move, again?_ _

__"Because we could play checkers," said Marty. "I don't mind. There's less rules, see --"_ _

__She lifted her head a bit. Sure, she was having trouble, and sure, it might have been a LOT of trouble, but did he think she couldn't do it?_ _

___Oho,_ so he was going to challenge her, huh! He was going to insult the intelligence of Commander Shepard! She didn't care if he didn't know what he was saying. She took hold of her bishop and took a wild guess as to which way it should move._ _

__Marty smiled. "Check." Shepard scowled. She must've had much to learn._ _

__And so it went on, every day. Shepard would strap on her running shoes, and take two laps around the park. When she finished, Marty would be waiting for her with his chess pieces, and she'd lose to him. Daily._ _

  
[ ](http://imgur.com/JLrnqkv)

Art by calypsotea, [deviantart,](http://calypsotea.deviantart.com/art/MEBB-Castling-Shepard-416306120) [tumblr.](http://calypsotea.tumblr.com/post/68307543357/and-so-it-went-on-every-day-shepard-would-strap)


	3. Chapter 3

Shepard's omnitool buzzed. She started it up, confused, and only became more confused when she saw that the call was coming from the Normandy. Every one of the crew members had surely been told that they weren't allowed to contact her. No, not surely, definitely. So who could it be?

... she knew it was Garrus.

She thought for a moment as it buzzed: this was her room, she was alone, and no one would ever know that she took a call from the Normandy. Right? She looked left, then right, for no other real reason than the fact that she was feeling sneaky, then answered her omnitool.

Garrus' face popped up in glorious holographic monochrome orange. "It took you long enough to answer," he said, smiling.

"I had to make sure I was alone." She was smiling too. Hell, she caught herself grinning wide. It made her feel foolish, but what do you do?

"Really, now? It looks like you're in your apartment! Who could possibly be up there with -- "

She giggled. "You know I behave. Why'd you call?"

"I miss you."

"But you're not supposed to call."

"I guess I'm a bad turian," he said. "Come on, though, really. How have you been? Feeling better?"

Shepard plopped herself down on the bed. For all the work Kelly had been doing on getting her to feel better, she hadn't thought that much about feeling "better". "I guess I'm okay."

"You guess?"

"I guess. I'm a little bored."

"Kelly's not keeping you busy with all that therapy? I thought she would have psychoanalyzed every plate you have."

"Humans don't have plates."

"Every tentacle, then."

Shepard stopped herself from correcting him, it wasn't worth it. Probably. "She's been getting me to try different hobbies," Shepard said. "I'm a knitter now. Apparently."

"What have you knit?"

"... a wad of yarn."

Garrus laughed. "So she's not helping that much, then."

Shepard shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I've been running laps around the park during the afternoon, I like doing that." She smiled. "I feel better when I'm moving."

"More better than when you're tangling yarn?"

"True! I also made a friend in the park. We play chess every afternoon."

" _You_ play _chess?_ "

"What? I can play."

"Do you win?"

She stared at the hologram.

"So you don't."

"Hush."

"What's this friend's name?"

"Marty. He's retired, and gets to hang out in the park all day, lucky guy."

Garrus raised an eyebrow, so she quickly added, "Not like that.”

 

Shepard was trying to remember if it was the rook or the bishop who moved diagonally when Marty spoke up.

"You don't talk about yourself a lot, do you?"

"Nope." The pawns could move diagonally. Right? That sounded right.

"Come on, at least tell me if you have a family."

"I live alone," she said, and it wasn't totally false. She lived alone in her cabin, right?

Why was she so worried about lying? Molly Sherrow could live alone. Molly Sherrow could live in a cave if she wanted.

Was she black or white?

"Really? No room mates? Siblings? Significant others?"

Shepard looked up briefly at 'significant others', then back down. She thought maybe she could cover for a moment, but the look Marty gave her let her know that no, she would not be getting away with this line of questioning.

"So! Significant other!"

"Maybe." Shepard couldn't hide a small smile. She'd been caught. Check?

"Tell me about them!"

Shepard screwed her mouth up a bit. On the one hand, she'd rather drop through the ground than totally dish about boys, but on the other? She missed Garrus. She sort of wanted to talk about him with someone, it was the next best thing to having him close.

"His name is Gary," she said, thinking way too quickly. Gary? That was an awful name.

"Gary, huh? Is he good to you?"

She smiled, then tried to hide it. She'd been trying so hard to _not_ think about Garrus this whole time that _thinking about_ Garrus suddenly felt wonderful.

"Of course he is," she said. "He ... " She had to think. "He takes care of me. He's been chasing after me to eat well and go to sleep lately, actually."

"Aww, that's how you really know he likes you. How'd you meet him?"

I stopped him from shooting hostages, Shepard thought, but she knew better than to say that one out loud. "We work together," she said. 

"You know? You never told me where you all work."

Shepard's eyes widened. That was the last thing she wanted to talk about. Where did she work? Where did she work? Where did --

"We make noodles," she spat out, then instantly regretted it. Noodles? "We have a little cafe."

Secretly, she was happy that Marty never actually asked what Garrus looked like. She had no idea how Marty would take the idea that she was dating a turian, so she figured she'd just dance around it.


	4. Chapter 4

It was late on the Normandy, but Liara knew that time was relative to people on different planets and spaceships. She told herself she didn't mind taking a call this late at night, even if she really did.

As she pressed the button, she answered it, "Normandy, Liara speaking," which she assumed was how she was supposed to answer. That part wasn't really covered in her briefing.

The hologram zapped to life, and a blue monochrome Miranda came into view. "I'm sorry," she said, "Is Shepard around?"

"She can't come to the comm right now." Liara felt like a small child, but she wasn't sure what to say. She wasn't sure that she was allowed to give away that Shepard wasn't on board.

"I'm in bad need of help, can you tell me when she would be available?"

Now Liara _really_ felt like a small child. Maybe she should take a message down in crayon on dotted handwriting paper? She gathered herself, that was the late hour talking, not her. "I'm sorry, I don't know," said Liara. That was the best thing she could think of to say in that moment.

"Of course you know, you're the bloody Shadow Broker.”

Liara stared at the hologram, unsure of what to do. Miranda probably could be trusted, but there was the pesky matter of her Cerberus affiliation.

Before she could make a decision, Miranda interrupted her thought train. "Look, maybe you should just help me. Do you think you could manage that?"

"It would depend on -- "

Miranda scowled, frustrated that she wasn't getting anywhere. "Look, what if you just met me on the Citadel and heard me out? I can't discuss it over a channel, I don't want anyone to intercept."

The Normandy had some of the most secure channels in the galaxy. If Miranda was paranoid about them, it must've been something big.

"You can probably afford to meet with me," said Miranda, "I'm assuming you all don't have Shepard on board and can't go on a major mission anyway. Just think it over, I'll email you a time and place.”

Before Liara could respond, Miranda ended the call.

 

 

"You're just moving the pieces at random," said Marty.

"Well, yes," said Shepard. She couldn't really lie, she was.

"You shouldn't do that," he said.

"So what should I do, then?"

"Here, do you know how to castle?"

"... that's not a verb."

"Watch!" Marty reached over across the board and grabbed her king. "You move your king two spaces the left, and then the rook goes over to the other side. That's castling."

"... why?"

"You've got to protect your king," said Marty. "You don't want to get into check, do you?" When Shepard stared blankly, he answered for her: "Of course not."

She stared blankly again. "That means you lose!" he said to her. "Look, the king's most important."

"Why?"

He started again, slower and louder, frustrated. "Because if you lose the king --"

"No, I mean, how'd he get to be most important? Is he really good?"

"I ... " Marty sat back in his chair. "Huh. I never thought about it. He can move in any direction, I guess."

"But the pointy guy can move a bunch of spaces," she replied.

"That's the bishop."

"And the guy with the little squares on his head can move a bunch too."

"The rook! Look, pretend the king is the boss. He's the king, right? So he's the guy with all the skills and the plan. If I take him, the whole operation goes south and the other pawns ... " He gestured upwards. "I don't know. The other pieces get taken by reapers. They know that, so they do whatever they can to keep the king alive. Make sense?"

Shepard screwed up her face. She didn't want to think about it. Instead, she took her rook, sent it flying across the board, and captured a pawn to distract Marty.

 

"Why are we going with you again, asked Tali?"

"I told you all, you know her better than I do. You can tell me if this is real or a trap." Liara sighed. "Hopefully."

She had asked Garrus and Tali to come along to the meeting with Miranda, which is how the three of them all wound up in an elevator.

Garrus shrugged. Sort of. It was hard to do without shoulders. "I guess I didn't think much about her when I met her, but I came around. I don't think she's all that bad."

Tali crossed her arms over her chest. "I do," she said. "I wouldn't give that Cerberus bosh-tet a piece of gum, much less whatever it is that she's asking for."

Liara sighed again as the elevator came to a stop. She was between a rock and a hard place; she needed them both, but she hoped that Tali could reign it in and be civil and Garrus could find it in himself to not be a total knot.

The doors opened and the three filed out. Liara let Tali go ahead, and held back just long enough to hiss at Garrus, "I know what you're thinking, but we're not visiting _her_ while we're here.” He held up his hands and mouthed, 'I know!', but Liara knew it was on his mind.

Miranda was sitting out at a table at the open air cafe, idly playing with the condiments set out. Liara nodded a greeting as she sat down, flanked by Garrus and Tali.

"Good to see everyone," Miranda said. Liara hadn't mentioned that she'd be bringing company, but Miranda didn't seem upset.

"Good to see you again," said Garrus. Tali said nothing. Liara imagined her glaring under her visor.

"What was it you wanted to talk to us about?" asked Tali.

"Someone here on the Citadel has been feeding data to my father," said Miranda.

"Why would I care about that?" asked Tali.

"It's about the quarian fleet," she replied.

Tali froze, and the way her head tipped, one could imagine how her jaw was dropped. "Why would your father care about the quarian fleet?"

"Cerberus has been chasing the quarians ever since they lost an asset on one of the fleet ships," she replied. "They lost a very powerful biotic student on what they think was the Idenna, and have been after the quarians ever since. I think they got some data off a data chip that a quarian on their pilgrimage dropped."

"What did it have on it?"

"Coordinates, some basic information on the security of the fleet ships. It's not very much, but it's enough, you know?"

Tali stood up from the table. "That's all I need to hear, let's go!"

"Tali, sit down," said Garrus. "What do you need from us that you can't do on your own?"

"Trail him," said Miranda. "I can't find him anywhere, and I've tried. I have some basic omnitool data on the guy, but I'm not a good enough hacker to trail him."

Tali hit the table with her fist. "You've got the best tech expert in the galaxy sitting here at the table, let's go!"

"Of course," said Garrus, "and Tali's here too." Tali kicked Garrus under the table.

"I'm glad you're all willing to help," said Miranda. She smiled. "I knew I could count on the best when I called the Normandy. But what happened to Shepard?"

The three Normandy crew members looked at each other. "I think we can tell her," said Garrus.

"We'll make a deal. Miranda, you keep our secret and we go get your guy. Got it?"

"Fair enough. Is she okay?"

"She's so stressed that she's sick," said Liara. "She was sent to the Citadel for mandatory shore leave to recover."

"That's awful," said Miranda. "But I'm not surprised. She's the sort that would take the entire war personally. But, if she's here -- "

"We're not allowed to contact her," said Garrus. "I'm sure she's not allowed on missions, even small ones like this."

"One last thing," said Liara. "When did you start caring about the quarian fleet?"

"We're _all_ fighting the reapers," said Miranda. "To be honest, the quarians aren't my primary concern. I just can't take my father feeding anything else to Cerberus." She grimaced. “Really, I can't take my father doing anything.”

 

As she and Marty were walking home, Marty stopped and nudged her. "Hey, look up there!"

She craned her neck to follow his pointing finger across the open air of the Citadel, up a building and to a huge virtual billboard with her picture.

... her picture? Would Marty notice the resemblence?

She looked at him studying his face for a reaction. If he did recognize that Molly and Shepard were the same person, he didn't show it.

Looking back at the billboard, she read the words next to her visage: "LET'S WIN THIS WAR," it said. Probably some propaganda from the Alliance.

"Man, I don't care what the council says," Marty went on. "Commander Shepard is totally the best."

She figured she knew what he meant, but it did behoove her to play dumb. "The council?"

"Oh, you know, those jerks tried to brush off that whole reaper thing. Scoot it under the rug and all" He put his thumb to his chest. "But I was there, Molly, I saw it! It took out the window in my sister's apartment! We both had to hide under her couch. We thought we were done for that day.”

Hearing survivor stories never got easier for Shepard.

“Really, though, look at her, would you?"

Shepard _was_ looking. She was actually starting to think Marty wasn't looking hard _enough._ The picture wasn't retouched _that_ much. Was it?

"I don't know, I just look at her, and she's so tough, and so brave … we have her, right? It makes me sure that we're going to win this thing with the reapers," he went on. "If anyone can kick their ass, she can. She's like humanity's secret weapon or something." Shepard knew that was the sort of comment that she should be proud to hear, but in reality, she felt her stomach sink.

"But what if she isn't?"

"Are you kidding? She did it once. She's got practice, Molly, she'll do it again."

This sort of thing was exactly why Shepard got put on shore leave. She sighed. There were thousands of people who thought exactly like Marty, and she was scared to death she would wind up letting them down.

… there was a small part of her, though, that was heartened to hear someone so positive. Marty hadn't sat in on as many board meetings as she had, hadn't heard as many grim stories about entire planets falling, hadn't heard entire civilizations reduced to cold hard numbers. But, here stood someone who spent the Battle of the Citadel hiding under a couch. In his own way, he knew what destruction the reapers could cause, since he had seen it so closely.

He thought this was a winnable battle. That was something, wasn't it?

"Besides," Marty said, elbowing her, "if nothing else, it's a nice view. She's an attractive lady."

Really? She raised her eyebrows at him, which he must've misinterpreted. He replied, "Hey, you're not so bad looking either."


	5. Chapter 5

Shepard skidded to a stop right at the chess table, something that she had gotten good at these past few weeks. Marty was waiting for her, of course, and even had the pieces out and ready for her.

As she sat down, he greeted her with, "You sound like you're getting less winded."

She looked up at him. If he knew that he had said that to Commander Shepard and not Molly Sherrow the Noodle Cook, he'd probably be mortified.

"Seriously, though, good for you for getting into better shape."

Now she was pressing her lips together to suppress a smile. It did make her wonder how much paperwork and military ship meals had been getting in the way of her PT, but she decided not to think about it. Instead, she replied, "Look, it's been a week and a half and I haven't beaten you yet. Teach me something awesome about chess."

"One of the most important things is to control the middle of the board, do you think you can handle that this game?"

"Sure," said Shepard.

“You're sure you know where the middle of the board is?”

She made a face. “Just set out the pieces.”

She started the game by moving two pawns out to the middle of the board, and promptly got one of them captured.

"You have other pieces," Marty said as he took the pawn off the board.

Shepard thought about it for a moment. Maybe distracting Marty would work. "I like all the flower garlands and stuff they're putting up."

"You kidding? They haven't yet started putting up Janiris decorations yet."

Oh, right, Janiris! The asari celebration of spring! Shepard had a tendency to forget about Citadel holidays, living on a human ship and all. 

"What all do they do?"

"First of all, these decorations? This is just peanuts. In a few days, this park is going to be _covered_ with flowers. They put up ribbon poles, too, and there's park vendors who sell balloons, and fried salados -- "

"What are those?"

"Oh! Those are an asari dish, traditional from Thessia. They're big crunchy cakes. We'll get you one when the vendors set up." He picked his knight up and zipped it across the board, capturing the rook that Shepard had sent to the middle. "Don't think I saw you setting that up."

 

Shepard found herself looking at the chess board, again, just as she had done every day for two weeks. She could not believe that someone had put a flower wreath around the board's edges. ("I told you they thought of everything," Marty had told her when she commented on it.)

"Huh, they look like they're in a hurry," Marty said.

Shepard picked her head up. She did hear running, now that Marty mentioned it. Before she could turn around, she saw three figures zip past, an asari, a turian and a quarian.

... there was no way in hell that was Liara, Garrus and Tali.

... but it looked an awful lot like them.

... holy crap, that was Liara, Garrus and Tali.

"Molly? Are you going to make your next move?"

She looked back at Marty. What the hell was she going to do? She wanted, more than anything, to know what her teammates were running toward. (Maybe she could even outrun them. Sure, she'd only been training for two weeks, but it was a fun thought.) 

But could she involve Marty? He was a civilian. What if they were doing something dangerous?

... but then, what _if_ they were doing something dangerous? What if Marty was in danger? She couldn't let anything happen to him. 

She sighed. Marty's safety was too important to her, she was going to have to, at the very least, investigate. He'd never leave her alone long enough to investigate on her own, though. She was pretty sure she had no choice to involve Marty. But how?

"You trust me, right?" she said.

Marty wrinkled her brow. "Of course I trust you," he replied.

"Good." Of course, Marty probably shouldn't trust Shepard at all, given that she'd lied about her name, but she'd just have to fix that later. "I know those people who just ran past us. They're old friends of mine. They wouldn't be running through the park unless they had a very good reason. Can we follow them?"

"Are they your running buddies?"

"... sort of." It would be a cold day in hell before Tali got up early to run. "Look, we've got to go, come on." She got up and ran after, only to hear Marty call out behind her, "Wait for me!"

Where did they go? Shepard ran along the hedge, for a lack of a better idea. Then, it finally hit her: she could probably track their omnitools still and see their location. She skidded to a stop and turned her omnitool on.

Marty caught up to her as three orange dots lit up on her screen. "You track your friends?" he asked.

"We're _really_ good friends," she said, not thinking too hard about what she was saying. The tracking was picking up something new. A blue dot was flickering on and off on the screen. Shepard must've been picking up a new signal, but how? And why?

 _It's possible,_ she thought, _that I'm picking up that blue dot off of everyone else's omnitool, since we're all connected._ So they were tracking the … the thing, then.

"Your friends seem to be running toward that blue dot," said Marty, just as Shepard noticed it. "Do you know what it might be?"

"No idea," Shepard said. She was assuming it was bad if they had come all the way to the Citadel to hunt it down. "I think they want to catch whatever it is."

"Ooo, are we going to help them?" She looked over at Marty, who was grinning now. He seemed buoyant. Of course he did, he didn't go on crazy adventures every day.

"I'd like to," she replied.

"Good! This is exciting."

"I'm not sure how to help best," she said, "We'd better just go after it."

"Look, whatever it is, you can't run after it directly. Look where it's getting your friends."

Shepard watched the dots travel. Marty was right, they weren't getting anywhere particularly close to the blue dot.

"But you know what to do, right?"

Shepard thought for a moment. Over the past couple of weeks, she'd come to know the park very well. "He'd be easier to catch out in the open. Right? We should get him to the open are area of the park."

"Exactly," said Marty. "If we control the middle of the board, we have a better chance."

... of course Marty would think about this like a chess game. Shepard briefly wondered if he thought about anything else.

"Look, if that dot goes to the north entrance to the park, that dot goes over by the fountains, and that dot runs south through the gardens, he'll be blocked in and won't have any other choice but to run him into the middle. You and me can be there. Right? Call them up and tell them," he said.

Shepard was pretty sure that Liara would yell at her if she found out that Shepard was trying to help. She could hear it now: you're on shore leave, you can't contact us, so on. She didn't particularly want to hear Liara fussing.

"I ... I have a better idea. Give me your omnitool," said Shepard.

"... what?"

Shepard took Marty's arm. "My omnitool's call system is broken," she lied. "I'm going to need yours."

She really hoped Marty didn't get sick of her lying to him.


	6. Chapter 6

A message buzzed on Liara's screen. She stopped and pulled it up.

"Hey," she called to the others. "Hang on, I'm getting something."

The message read:

_I think I can help. Liara, go north to the park entrance. Garrus should go over close to the fountains. Tali, you go to the gardens on the south side. That will trap this guy, we'll grab him from the middle._

_\-- Someone who hates Cerberus just as much as you._

"Who the hell is that?" asked Tali.

"No idea," said Liara. "The message just came from someone named Martin Halbrook."

“It's Shepard,” said Garrus. Tali and Liara both turned to stare at him.

“You think so?”

“Of course. Who else do you think knows us, knows how to get to Liara's omnitool, knows we know anything about Cerberus, and couldn't keep her nose out of any sort of mission we have?”

“... Ashley?”

Garrus glared. “You know I'm right. She didn't sign it because she knew you'd yell, Liara.”

“... all right, but just in case, we're changing 'Shepard's plan,” she replied, finger quoting 'Shepard'. Each of us can hide in those specific areas, but when we see our mark, we're going to _run_ behind him instead of staying put. That way, if it's not Shepard in the park center, whoever it really is will have a three-on-one fight.”

“Fair enough,” said Garrus. “Let's get to our places, then.”

 

Shepard had hidden Marty behind a bush. “Please please stay put,” she had told him. “Seriously, I've got this.”

“Are you sure?” he replied. “Look, you're not a C-SEC officer, don't be a hero, okay?”

Shepard stared at Marty. He was going to have heart failure if he ever found out.

He had also had heart failure when Shepard positioned herself on a bench along a foot path out in the open. When he got out from behind his bush to protest, she motioned for him to get back down. He did, thankfully.

 _Can't just sacrifice pieces unnecessarily,_ she told herself.

… but, she told herself, she had to protect the king. She needed to look inconspicuous. She turned her omnitool on and held the orange glow up to her face, hoping that was enough to obscure it.

She turned on the app that let her track Garrus, Liara and Tali. She was surprised to see Liara and Garrus chasing the culprit over to Tali at the gardens. What was going on?

Still, she watched the dot as it was flushed over to Tali. Tali's dot then chased the culprit away from the gardens, then followed along with Garrus, Liara and Tali.

… of course, they were going to tail the culprit, just in case they couldn't trust the mysterious message center. She was momentarily proud of her crew for thinking of a solution like that.

… until she noticed the dot drew near. It was almost show time. Without moving her head, she looked up and scanned the park for anyone running.

Finally, from the north end of the park, she saw a figure clothed in black running toward her position. Cross referencing it with her tracking app, she figured out that he was the target of her crew's chasing.

She waited patiently, listening to the park sounds she'd gotten so used to over the past few weeks. Birds, people, the shuffle of grass. She'd associated the sounds with the idea of waiting patiently to capture pieces.

The culprit ran past. She sat completely still, letting him get about two paces away from the bench before she sprang to life.

It felt good. For two weeks, she'd been practicing, and she was thankful to be able to direct her speed _at_ something. It was a short time between her beginning to run and her colliding with the man. They both hit the grass.

Shepard flipped him down, and before he could think, pinned him to the ground and looked at him. The man looked petrified. _Damn,_ she thought. _I missed this._

“Tell me why I pinned you,” she screamed.

“Excuse me?”

She pointed behind her. “That back there is my _crew,_ and that quarian doesn't run for fun.” She heard a small 'hey!' behind her.

“Shepard, you caught him!”

Without letting any weight off the man, Shepard turned around behind her to look at Liara. “I did! Now who is he?”

Liara, Garrus and Tali jogged up to Shepard. “He was sending information to Miranda's dad,” said Liara. “Thanks for helping us catch him.”

“... _Shepard?_ ”

Marty!

Shepard's head whipped around to her right to see Marty standing behind the bush, staring at her, face painted in disbelief. She looked at Liara. “Do what you need to do,” she said, as she got off the man. Before her culprit could run off, she grabbed him by the shirt and thrust him toward Garrus.

She walked toward Marty.

“Shepard? It's not Shepard. It's Sherrow. Right?”

She took a breath.

“Right? Molly?”

“Marty, I'm sorry, it's … I'm not Molly Sherrow. I'm … I'm Commander Shepard. The real one. I just – “ She stopped, not sure where to go. She hadn't expected Marty to become such a good friend, and she'd lied to him for so long. She didn't expect it to hurt so badly. How did Marty feel? Would he take it well?

“Holy crap.”

“I'm sorry, it was – “

“Holy crap. Holy crap. Holy _crap_ that is AWESOME.”

“... excuse me?”

Someone nudged her in the back. He looked over her shoulder to see Liara. “You're not supposed to be with us anyway, it sounds like you've got some explaining to do to your friend. Don't worry about it, we've got this guy,” she said. In the background, Garrus drug the man away.

She turned back to Marty. “You've probably got a million questions, you want to go back to the chess board?”


	7. Chapter 7

Marty leaned forward with the biggest smile on his face. Shepard was starting to feel _weird_. She wished he'd stop.

“I probably should have told you,” she started. She was going to have to say something, no matter what Marty's facial expression was. “I guess I didn't think we'd wind up seeing each other every day, or becoming friends. Maybe that's why I did it … I needed a friend, someone who just wanted to talk to _me,_ not THE Commander Shepard.” She sighed. “I think that's why I got sent on shore leave. I just couldn't be THE Commander Shepard much longer without a break.”

“You're THE Commander Shepard,” he said. He almost sighed it.

“I … that's me, yes.”

He shook his head. “I'm sorry. I can't … I mean, you know what a big fan I am! And to have _YOU!_ Sitting _HERE!_ ” He bounced a little. “I can't believe I've been talking to you for weeks!”

His smile fell a little when he saw how exhausted she looked. “I see why you lied about your name, though,” he went on. “You wanted a friend, not a fan. Man, if I'd known that I helped THE Commander Shepard up a few days ago, I would have behaved totally different. I'm sure you don't want ten thousand questions or anything – “

She smiled a small half smile. “You know what? I've lied for two weeks. I think you should have the chance to ask some questions if you want.”

“Really?”

“Ask me anything.” She shrugged. “Go ahead.”

He clapped his hands together. “Really! Okay! Oh my goodness, there's so many … okay, okay, so. Was that asari back there Leah?”

“Her real name's Liara, but yeah, that's her.”

“And the quarian was Terri?”

“Tali.”

“... wait, that turian … ?”

“Garrus. Or Gary.”

Marty's eyes widened. “Damn, girl. Go on.”

Shepard laughed. “You wouldn't tell the tabloids or anything, would you?”

“I couldn't. You're my friend, right?”

“... thanks.”

“Hey, Shepard,” she heard behind her, and turned around to see Garrus. “Is this where you spent your shore leave? Behind a chess board?”

“Yeah, actually,” she said. “This is my friend Marty,” she said, gesturing toward him. “I think I told you about him?”

Garrus nodded. “Of course.” He held out his hand, Marty took it to shake. “Thanks for looking after Shepard,” he said.

“My pleasure! I get her for another week, though, right?”

“Actually, that's what I came to ask about.” Garrus turned toward Shepard. “Chawkwas thinks that if you're feeling well enough to jump random guys in the park, you can try coming back to the Normandy. What do you say?”

Shepard heard Marty squeal a little. She knew it was because he heard “Normandy”, and inwardly rolled her eyes. 

She thought about it. She'd been fighting for two weeks to get back to the Normandy, but now …

She smiled. “I've got a week of vacation left,” she said, “and I'm going to be lazy and spend it here at the chess board.”

To her surprise, Garrus smiled too. “I actually think that's a pretty good idea. I was hoping you'd say that. Hey Marty,” he said as he patted him on the back, “take care of her.”

As Garrus walked away, Shepard turned toward Marty. “Hey, set them up,” she said.

“Only if you tell me about the collectors,” he said, putting down a handful of pieces.


End file.
